Putting a 2.75" hardened steel pipe on rear blade for plowing in soft conditions?

[Frxdy]

I have a buddy that cut a slot in a 10 foot 6 inch piece of 3" galvanized pipe with a "chop saw" for his 10 foot plow. He left 3 inches uncut on each end. He welded tabs and holds it on with 5/16" chain. It works great! We have non-frozen roads in the Fall, and the Spring, here in Maine. Wheels are no help, they just sink in the soft ground.

 

[barrowes]

I have a buddy that cut a slot in a 10 foot 6 inch piece of 3" galvanized pipe with a "chop saw" for his 10 foot plow. He left 3 inches uncut on each end. He welded tabs and holds it on with 5/16" chain. It works great! We have non-frozen roads in the Fall, and the Spring, here in Maine. Wheels are no help, they just sink in the soft ground.

I would vote for the "turn the blade around when the ground is not frozen" method.

I lived and plowed my 1/4 mile driveway in NH for 20 years with a straight blade. Until the driveway was frozen fairly hard, I would drive the tractor backward with the plow's convex side of the plow facing rearward, so it naturally glided over all the bumps and undulations of the driveway. Served to "sharpen" the plow blade as well.

Then when the driveway was froze hard (around later december), I would turn the blade around and again drive backward (always backward), but this time with the concave side of the plow facing rearward in the direction of tractor travel. This allow the blade to bite into the snow and scoop it away, but not bite into the driveway (because hardpack driveway was frozen hard like concrete).

Snow plows avoid most of the problems because they can tilt on a spring, so when they start biting into the ground (or hit a rock, etc.), they tilt forward by design. But if one is plowing with a straight grading type blade, that capability is not included (by design).

 

[panamaguy]

I have a local guy that gets it from the oil fields. Cost me $35 for 9ft length 1/4" thick, 2 & 3/4" dia. J55 tool grade steel, schedule 80.

Its actually 2 7/8 drill stem. Very hard and would last a long time for what you are doing.... But if you weld any tabs etc to the pipe you need to preheat it. I have used drill pipe lots to make what the oil industry calls tumble racks. So lots of heat were the mounting tabs are as it will disperse quickly

 

[henerythe8th]

I made brackets to hold snowplow shoes for when the ground is soft.

View attachment 4133412

This is the answer.
They made skate shaped ones, too!
Easy on/off!

 

[Gord Baker]

I have a few miles of gravel road that I need to plow - conditions are often soft. It's full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, so being able to float my rear blade would make life a LOT easier. Turning the blade around does not work well because the rear of the blade is full of uneven edges due to all the reinforcing, so it just gathers snow.

It's a very heavy attachment, probably close to 1,600lbs and I'm hoping the pipe will allow the blade to "glide" over the gravel without digging in and messing it up too much.

 

[Gord Baker]

I have a few miles of gravel road that I need to plow - conditions are often soft. It's full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, so being able to float my rear blade would make life a LOT easier. Turning the blade around does not work well because the rear of the blade is full of uneven edges due to all the reinforcing, so it just gathers snow.

It's a very heavy attachment, probably close to 1,600lbs and I'm hoping the pipe will allow the blade to "glide" over the gravel without digging in and messing it up too much.

No blade attachment will cure 'roller coaster' terrain.
Hire in a capable guy with a small dozer to plane off high areas.

 

[JsJs]

What you describe is better termed a trail. Road requires gravel bed to be called as such.

 

[dstriplett]

I'd say - if you have the money - go for a landscape plane. It contains the gravel and redistributes it evenly across the surface without carrying a ton of it from one place to another like a box blade can.

 

[Eebbee]

The blade came with a hydraulic gauge wheel, but it sits back about 3-4ft behind the blade. It didn't seem to work very well with my roller coaster roads, but then again I was new to tractoring back then. I could see gauge wheels that are right next to the blade working better, but that's a lot more of a project than fitting a pipe to the blade.

The gauge wheel set away from the blade serves the purpose of straightening the ground, leveling bumps and valleys.
You might be able to achieve what you want by setting the wheel closer to the blade so that the blade follows the actual road conforming to bumps and valleys instead of leveling them.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

The gauge wheel set away from the blade serves the purpose of straightening the ground, leveling bumps and valleys.

Let's say that the blade is equal distances from the tractor's rear tires and the gauge wheel.

If so, when the tractor goes over a 2" bump it'll lift the blade 1".

Now if the gauge wheel is as close to the blade as possible instead, that 2" lift may only result in raising the blade a 1/4" to 1/2".

There's a reason I put the wheels behind blades and box blades as close to them as possible, and make very long tongues for the towable ones. That way the tractor can move up and down quite a bit without affecting blade height much.

Of course, my goal is to create smooth ground, the OP wants to plow an undulating road - two different things. But having gauge the wheels (I think it'll take two of them, with fairly wide tires) as close as possible to the blade will work far better in his case.